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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 2016)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2016 140th Year, No. 153 U.S. President Republican Democrat Donald Trump 64.7% John Kasich 16.6% Ted Cruz 15.9% Story on Bernie Sanders 51.9% Hillary Clinton 46.3% WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Voters pass Hermiston, Stanield ire department merger Oregon Governor Democrat Bud Pierce 46.3% Allen Alley 30.5% Kate Brown 84.1% EO ile photo Cuff 11% Bell 6.8% Stauffer 2.9% Niemeyer 10% Johnson 2.4% Story on Page 2A Secretary of State Republican Democrat Dennis Richardson 76.8% Sid Leiken 22.6% Brad Avakian 39.3% Val Hoyle 33.4% Richard Devlin 26.5% Story on Page 2A Circuit Court Judge Winner Jon Jon Lieuallen Ballard 67.1% 32.7% Story on Page 7A Morrow County Commissioner Position 1 Jim Doherty 51.4% Leann Rea 48.2% Judge Melissa Lindsay 65.3% Greg Sweek 34.5% Story on Page 8A Two new Pendleton councilors elected By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian Page 7A Republican One dollar Hermiston ireighter/paramedic Chris Wrathall and ireighter/EMT Jesse Brown take a patient from the back off a Hermiston Police cruiser and transfer him to their ambulance last March in Hermiston. Fire districts unite By JENNIFER COLTON East Oregonian Umatilla County Fire District 1 is born. The consolidated district will encompass much of western Umatilla County and bring together the staff of the Hermiston and Stan- ield ire districts. To pass, voters had to approve three separate measures: 30-109 dissolved the Hermiston Fire District, 30-110 dissolved the Stanield Fire District and 30-108 formed the new district and established its funding. As of the irst count on election day, more than 2,000 voters in Hermiston and Stanield — about 61 percent of the vote — cast in favor of forming the new district, and both overwhelmingly voted to dissolve the current districts. “Obviously, we’re very happy with the results. The support of our citizens is awesome to help us take the ire district to the next level and provide the service we need,” Fire Chief Scott Stanton said Tuesday night. “We’re grateful for the support. We’re going to do good things. We’re going to do great things.” The new district takes affect July 1. “The trucks will have a different name on the door, but it’s going to be the same stations, the same people, but we’ll be able to keep up with the growth now and provide a great service,” Stanton said. When it opens with the new name on July 1, the new Umatilla County Fire District 1 will have a combined tax rate of $1.75 per $1,000 of assessed property value for residents See FIRE/8A “We want to give all our thanks to all the folks who supported us. These are two great communities and we’re going to continue to serve and continue that on the best we can.” — Fire Chief Scott Stanton Three school bonds pass, with state dollars to follow Milton-Freewater, Athena-Weston, Echo voters approve bonds Councilor Paul Chalmers will have to wait until November to see if he’ll win a full term to the Pendleton City Council. W h i l e candidates Dale 59% Primmer, Becky Marks 27% Marks, Scott Tibbets Fairley and Caubisens 14% John Turner celebrated victories Tuesday night, Chalmers couldn’t clear the 50 percent threshold needed to win the at-large race outright. J & B Auto- 73% motive co-owner Fairley Morehouse 20% Jim Swearingen Ehmann 6% came in second place with 25.2 percent of the vote, even though he ended his campaign months ago. Although he made his intentions public, S w e a r i n g e n Primmer 59% never turned in Cimmiyotti 32% the paperwork Bennet 9% needed to with- draw his name from the ballot. Swearingen said he wasn’t surprised by the election results because he received an “astronomical” amount of Chalmers 49% phone calls from Swearingen 25% 20% supporters who Rohde 5% said they still Rabitaille planned to vote for him. He said he’ll spend the next couple of days considering whether to See PENDLETON/8A By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian Elfering wins second term Tuesday was all good news for the three Umatilla County school districts going for capital improve- ment bonds. As of 8:10 p.m. Milton-Free- water School District’s $12.5 million bond (with $19 million total in matching funds) was passing 80 to 20 percent. Echo School District’s $4 million bond (with $4 million match) was passing 70 to 30 percent, and Athena Weston School District’s $4 million bond (with $4 million match) was winning by 77 to 23 percent. They were among the ten Oregon school districts chosen to receive $4 million grants from the state — if they could get voters to approve a bond. The grant will come from the Oregon School Capital Improve- ment Matching Program, created by Senate Bill 447 to provide incentive for voters to pass a general obli- gation bond to help fund deferred maintenance. Milton-Freewater will also receive a $15 million donation from a private foundation. At Echo School, the $8 million will pay for an expansion that includes three classrooms, a school library, an air-conditioned second gym, dedicated space for wood shop, metal shop, art, agriculture and a science lab. It will also pay for increased school security, including cameras and a key card system. Superintendent Raymon Smith was celebrating with a group of Bill Elfering of Hermiston won a second term on the Umatilla County Board of Commissioners. Early and unoficial election results show Elfering with 61.2 percent of the vote over challenger Tom Bailor of Pendleton, who garnered 38.3 percent. Elfering during the campaign talked of his experience in the insurance industry as the basis for decisions in county govern- ment. He said the vote afirms that the people of the county like what he is doing on the board and the direction the county is going. Elfering over the past Elfering 61% year helped the Bailor 38% county work with multiple emergency services agencies to agree on how to fund the county’s dispatch center. Elfering also took the lead on the county’s economic development to focus it on expanding existing businesses and entice new ones to bring in good paying jobs. Bailor tried to convince voters he could bring fresh ideas to the county and direct money and efforts to oppor- tunities the county was ignoring. Elfering said he would be right back at the job Wednesday morning. He and the two other commissioners have a public meeting starting at 9 a.m. East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris The more than 100-year-old Grove School building is still used as a library and for storage at Grove Elementary School in Milton-Freewater. School bonds pass Milton-Freewater Athena-Weston Echo 75% 76.9% 69.9% district supporters after the initial results came out and said everyone in the room was “really excited.” “It’s a lot of relief, honestly,” he said. He said he was grateful to the community for allowing the district to access state funds. He said he believed the state’s match was what secured the bond’s passage. “We would have never had a shot, otherwise,” he said. The district hopes to start construction within a year. In Athena-Weston School District the money will pay for a long list of upgrades including air conditioning, new rooing, a wheelchair lift, asbestos abatement, water damage repair, energy efi- cient heating and lights, upgraded technology, new buses, electronic locks and security cameras. School board chair Scott Rogers said the money earned through Tuesday’s vote will not only pay for capital improvements, it will also put more dollars back into the classrooms each year by reducing operating costs. He said he “can’t emphasize enough” how apprecia- tive the district is to voters. “What a wonderful opportunity,” he said. Milton-Freewater’s bond package was more ambitious. The $12.5 million in bonds paid for by voters will combine with $4 million from the state and a $15 million donation from the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation. See SCHOOLS/8A